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Re: Pacers/Nuggets postgame

The 36-year-old guard played like a revitalized All-Star, scoring eight of his 15 points during a decisive 10-0 run to send the Nuggets past the Pacers 92-89. Miller had a hand in all of the points during the late flurry - making three baskets and two free throws and dishing out an assist on the only basket he didn't score.

``He knows how to get shots down the stretch better than some of our other guys, some of our younger guys,'' coach George Karl said. ``He was running the pick-and-roll actions better than anyone all game long, and he just has that old-man knack, that old-school knack.''

For one night, at least, Miller rekindled images from the days he was one of the league's most feared guards.

This time, the oldest player on the league's third-youngest team, showed his teammates that a combination of poise, leadership and clutch play will trump big names and flashy plays every time.

No, Miller didn't produce the biggest numbers for Denver (10-10).

JaVale McGee had a season-high 20 points, 16 in the first half, and eight rebounds. Corey Brewer matched his season-high with 20 points, too, on a night only two Denver starters reached double figures - Kosta Koufos with 12 points and Andre Iguodala with 10.

But Miller delivered the scoring punch when Denver needed it most.

``We just want to keep providing some stability, some energy, so hopefully, it can carry over into the games,'' Miller said as he walked out of the locker room.

Indiana (10-10) was looking for its first three-game winning streak this season and had a chance to force overtime when George Hill blocked Ty Lawson's shot from the left corner with 8.8 seconds to go. Hill grabbed the loose ball and sprinted up the court, but rather than call timeout to set up a play, Hill circled around and threw up an off-balance 3-pointer that bounced off the side of the rim as the buzzer sounded.

Hill finished with 15 points on a night all five Pacers starters scored in double figures. Paul George finished with 22, including four 3s. David West had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Roy Hibbert had 10 points and nine rebounds and Lance Stephenson had 12 points.

Afterward, Hill said perhaps he should have called the timeout. Coach Frank Vogel disagreed.

``In a scramble situation, that's where you get your most open looks,'' Vogel said.

Either way, it wasn't good enough against the feisty Nuggets and suddenly revitalized Miller.

The Nuggets overcame Indiana's fast start, which put them in a 10-point hole less than four minutes into the game, took the lead early in the second quarter and stayed in control for most of the game.

But after leading for most of the next 2-plus quarters, Miller re-emerged when Indiana charged back.

``He's drinking from the fountain of youth,'' point guard Ty Lawson said. ``He was coming down and getting buckets, getting assists, he's playing well for us. He's winning games for us.''

Exhibit A came Friday night in a city where Denver has won seven of its last nine and in a series in which the Nuggets have won 13 of the last 16.

Midway through the fourth quarter, it looked like the Nuggets would hold on again as they scored seven straight points to rebuild an 80-74 lead.

Indiana answered with Stephenson's layup, a three-point play from Hill and a free throw from Hibbert to tie the score at 82 with 3:52 to go. Twenty seconds later, George hit a 3-ponter, giving Indiana the lead and sending the crowd into a frenzy.

But after a timeout, Miller took control.

He started the run with two free throws, then scored on a layup and hit a 15-footer. After feeding McGee for a dunk, he closed the run with a 14-foot pullup shot to make it 92-85 with 1:01 to play.

``They came out and really brought it up a level and it kind of took us some time to adjust to that,'' George said. ``By that time, they kind of found something, letting Andre Miller attack and find guys.''

George answered with his fourth 3 and Stephenson cut the deficit to three by making 1 of 2 free throws with 29.9 seconds left.

Miller and the Nuggets didn't let Indiana get any closer.

``I've played with him for two years,'' Iguodala said of Miller. ``And I've seen that calm about him before when it's needed, especially for a team like ours with some youth.''

NOTES: Hibbert had three blocks and now has blocked at least two shots in 14 consecutive games. ... Koufos was 5 of 8 from the field and 2 of 2 from the free-throw line with five rebounds despite still being slowed by the flu, which kept him out of Wednesday night's game. ... Iguodala hurt his left hip late in the first half but continued to play.The Nuggets already have two players out with hip injuries - Wilson Chandler and Julyan Stone. ... Indiana and Denver now have an even split of the 168 games they've played since entering the ABA.

Re: Pacers/Nuggets postgame

To be fair to Lance, however, he did lead the team in +/- (and Young was the worst with -17). Vogel needs to stop yanking Lance so much. He clearly helps the team perform, and we lost a nice lead as soon as Lance was pulled for Sam Young. Those margins end up costing us at the end of games.

Quick run down of Young's 7 minutes after Lance was pulled:

- TO (turnover)
- clear path foul ( and didn't know it was a 2 shot foul )
- allowed a dunk off of our missed free throw...should never happen
- chucked and missed a contested 3
- chucked up another quick 3 (was open and made it but still quick + had PG wide open next to him for easier corner 3)
- chucked and missed a contested 3 (clock was at 3... thought he still had time to get a better shot then a deep 3)
- TO #2

Team scores 6 points...

Lance was bad tonight defensively, there's no denying that, but I don't understand why we didn't attempt to hide him on Iggy in the 4th. Especially after Miller abused Lance a few times in the first half. I was waiting for Frank to switch Paul onto him the whole 4th quarter, but it never happened. I don't mind the no timeout on the last play because Paul was wide open, but allowing Miller to nearly single-handedly beat us down the stretch while our best on ball defender sat in the corner guarding Iggy was not a good azz defense from Vogel.

He's starting to show me something offensively. He took over in teh second half even though he was cold in the first. He keeps this up and coaches migth have to entertain theh idea of him as an all star reserve sometime in the near future.

Re: Pacers/Nuggets postgame

That's not really fair, and actually not accurate. Lance may have given up one basket to Miller in the last 5 minutes, and arguably he was Roy's man.

I just re-watched the last 5 minutes:

- Miller tries to penetrate and Lance keeps Miller from shooting
- 3:00: Lance gets a steal
- 2:44 Miller draws a foul against PG and makes two free throws
- 2:30 Miller scores on fast break layup. Lance barely reaches him in time and pushes him toward DWest at the basket who does nothing. This break was the result of GHill's early 3-pointer that caroomed off the rim while Lance was on the baseline. The fast break was Hill's fault, not Lance's, and Quinn even said as much.
- 2:00 Miller scores on an easy shot from the foul line. You could argue this one was Lance's fault. Except that he got screened by Javale freaking McGee, so he switched, which makes sense. Unfortunately, it was Roy's job to come up simply to the foul line to cover Miller, but speedy Hibbert did not even make the attempt.
- 1:45 ish: Miller tries to penetrate. Lance plays solid D and prevents any shot attempt. They call a foul on Lance. Not a shooting foul. No big deal.
- 1:30 or so: Young replaces Lance. Miller immediately gets wide open to make a 10 footer. Lance back in.
- 1:00 or so: Similar play. Lance switches again, which he should have. This time, however, the switcher is GHill who does play defense and Miller misses the 15 foooter.
- I don't think Denver scored again.

Last edited by McKeyFan; 12-08-2012 at 09:15 AM.

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"I like our group of people," Ainge told USA Today. "I'm trying to teach them about basketball, and they're trying to teach me about analytics."

Re: Pacers/Nuggets postgame

The bench performance was horrible, but it seemed to primarily come from Andre Miller murdering Augustine.
But we had way too many turnovers and defensive lapses against a team like Denver, they are going to make you pay.
Brewer seems to do this against us every time we play them, had a few good shots but mostly scored off cheap baskets when we weren't back on the break or the rotations broke down.

No doubt, but Miller murdered I think at least three guys assigned to him in the second half and anybody else who temporarily had him due to a switch or rotations. Must be such a luxury to have a vet PG who can actually influence a game when you need help off the bench.

Re: Pacers/Nuggets postgame

Now that I think about it Hill probably should have attacked the rim against the backpedaling Galinari on the last play. We just had 3 questionable calls go against us in a row, and if he attacked he probably would have got the call. We still had 7 seconds and a timeout so we had time to go for the 2 then foul.

Oh well, you live and learn. I can't get too down on him because he's still learning how to be a PG, and even though he didn't shoot well he did play some great D on Lawson and at times Miller. Plus he with finished 10 assists and only 1 turnover. He had a gg.

Re: Pacers/Nuggets postgame

I'm still trying to rationalize how bad DJ Augustin is. What has he played? Like 5 good minutes of basketball total this entire season?

This has been stunning to me. I was one of the ones who really did think he was at least equal to DC and possibly a better fit because of a different style of play that he would bring to the table. He has just completely melted down.

Did last season really just crush his psyche?

It's as if what happened to Charlotte last year was the result of some kind of evil entity swooping in and haunting the franchise, and somehow he brought some of that with him here to Indiana.

Re: Pacers/Nuggets postgame

Disagree with this. I thought Hill played great on ball defense on Miller and Lawson. They got a lot of points in transition and killed DJ.

Thank you for this. Can't let this be overstated. Outstanding on the ball defense from Hill.

It's a loss but we have to take away the good things. Lance is really contributing. He will single-handedly solve our bench scoring/creating issues when Danny comes back. And Paul George has now had three straight 20 point games for the first time in his career.

The way I see it, we have seven solid rotation guys now, clearly. We need to upgrade the back up PG spot, obviously. I'm not expecting much from the Gerald Green/Sam Young ninth man spot.